True Stories. Real People.

Ricardo Salinas, Herbert Siguenza and Richard Montoya in ​SCR's 2008 production of Culture Clash in AmeriCCa.

For roughly half of their more than three decades together, Richard Montoya, Ricardo Salinas and Herbert Siguenza have traveled the country as theatrical anthropologists, digging into the psyche of the ever-changing human landscape that is the United States. They’ve interviewed hundreds of people from all walks of American life from ghetto streets to suburban tract homes, from city halls to back alley bars, from RV parks to high rise offices and elsewhere—including Orange County.

The trio—playwrights, spoken-word poets, visual artists, filmmakers and activists—has spoken with people of every race, creed and color: young and old, rich and poor, generationally connected families and loners and others. The resulting stories that they’ve woven into Culture Clash (Still) in Ameri​ca for South Coast Repertory (Dec. 30, 2018-Jan. 20, 2019, Julianne Argyros Stage), are varied, creative and funny—and at the same time, complex and serious.

“Culture Clash (Still) in Ameri​ca is a “reminder of many things,” says Salinas. “It’s a reminder of race and class, of misplaced values—but mainly of the human spirit: that need in all of us to be heard. Not just the powerful, but the quiet voices folded deep in the nation’s margins.”

“We invite Orange County to ride along with us and meet some of the real people we have encountered in our three decade-long journey across America and Orange County. This is what we offer; this is what we do: urban excavations, oral interpretations. True stories. Real people.”

Adapted from the preface by Guillermo Gómez-Peña and introduction by Tony Taccone in Culture Clash in AmeriCCa: Four Plays.